Still, losing so many veteran voices at once has left a power vacuum that has to be filled.

“It’s different,” said Incognito, who mounted a Twitter campaign to urge Long to stay. “Those guys were obviously a part of the core group of this team for many years and it’s going to be tough to replace them.

“But we’re a young football team and we’re eager to win. I think guys are stepping up to the plate. We have different guys of various age groups that are stepping up and taking ownership of this team.”

The Dolphins’ new leaders won’t be established until training camp and the regular season. But the holdovers are convinced they’ll find good leadership among players on the current roster.

“We lost guys that have been in this league a long time,” guard John Jerry said, “but at the same time we’ve still got a good core group of guys. We know what to do.”